Apocalypse Redux

Chapter 137: Blacksmith Woes

While his trainees were whacking away at a set of heavily reinforced training dummies, sweat fell like rain. Sweating at their level of bodily enhancement in the first place meant that they were being pushed astoundingly hard, but they’d already all gained [Epic Blow], which allowed them to triple-stack the relevant [Skills] and that was only the start of things.

They’d all gained extraordinary skill with various melee weapons, better than any professional prior to the [System]. Not all of them had the Stat spread to get the most out of their new abilities, but this had hardly been time wasted. Isaac himself had come to realize quite a few things about himself as he’d had truly think about what he was doing in order to explain it to his trainees, which had, in turn, levelled many of his own [Skills].

And he’d even managed to push [Armory of Ancient Times] to Level 10.

Armory of Ancient Times (legendary, Level X)

They had some good stuff back in the time of legends, didn’t they? Legendary swords, cloaks of invisibility, rings and belts that granted the strength of ten men … all that good stuff. But we don’t have that stuff anymore, they were either lost to history or they never existed in the first place. But with this Skill, it doesn’t really matter which of those is true, because Hildebrand’s Heir is able to summon anything he wants, so long as Hildebrand once held it, such as his sword Balmung, once wielded by Siegfried.

You may summon multiple weapons (or objects) at a time, and doing so will reserve 100 points of your mana to maintain it unless you can find alternative ways of sustaining it for the first, with the cost doubling with every additional summon.

As you learn more about Hildebrand’s legend, you’ll learn more about what you can summon.

Currently available gear: Balmung, Nagelring, Eckesachs, Mimung, assorted mundane gear, Laurin’s Ring, Hildegrim …

It was a great upgrade, letting him wield multiple powerful pieces of gear at the same time. Sure the cost got pretty astronomical rather quickly, it was still an awesome upgrade.

And that’s when the penny dropped.

… Isaac’s facepalmed with enough force to rattle the nearest windows, causing all his trainees to stop and look at him in concern.

“I just realized something, but it can wait until this is over.” He assured them.

But once that was, ten minutes later, he rushed off like someone who’d left the oven on, heading towards the crafter village.

As he moved, for the very first time since getting [Armory of Ancient Times], he summoned a new weapon. It was an incredibly thin, sharp blade, looking more like a rapier or maybe a training sword meant to bend like a limp noodle when it struck someone than a proper weapon of war … or at least it would have, if it hadn’t been so sharp it practically disappeared when viewed edge-on.

[Hildebrand’s Heir] was at its core a training [Class]. One of its core [Skills] was specifically meant to facilitate that, but the other didn’t seem to be, at first glance. So Isaac had used it as the name indicated, and done great things with that.

But he had a massive roster of powerful pieces of equipment that he could summon, and upon re-reading the [Skill] description, he could just take those things to a good [Blacksmith] and have them try and replicate it.

Sure, Balmung had its roots deep in mythology and been created by a god, so it was unlikely there were forging techniques that could be copied, but there was also a weapon that had not only been created normally, but also in a way that was documented in the legends about it. This was the blade currently resting in his hands.

Mimung

A legendary blade, forged thrice by the greatest blacksmith of ancient times, Wayland, also known as Wieland and Volundr.

Forged once, it astounded all those who saw it.

Forged a second time, it exceeded any other weapon in the kingdom.

Forged a third time, only the most legendary weapons could rival it.

This is a blade that has tasted the blood of kings and peasants, monsters and heroes bringing death to all and making them equal after their life has ended, unstoppable by all armor and other defenses.

(this is a summoned weapon)

By the time Isaac reached Stagmer’s shop in the crafters’ village, he’d already been able to hear the [Blacksmith] hammering away on a project for a while. It sounded like he was hard at work but Isaac was pretty damn certain that there wasn’t a [Blacksmith] in the world who wouldn’t drop everything in a heartbeat if given the chance to work with something like Mimung.

The front door was locked, a clear indication that this current project was important, or at least that he didn’t want to be disturbed right now, but Isaac just walked up to the door, knocked, and held up Mimung for inspection. Any craftsman worth his salt would have at least some sensory [Skills] and a masterpiece like Isaac’s currently projected sword should be shining about as brightly as a burning bar of magnesium to those senses.

The sound of hammering slowed, then came to a complete stop. Less that a second after the loud clank of a hammer being put down, the door burst open to reveal the blacksmith standing there, looking at the sword with a mixture of wonder and barely disguised avarice.

“What … what is that?” he asked, a slight tremble in his voice.

“This is Mimung, and I’d like to see if you can make me a copy.” Isaac said with a wry smile “Shall we go in? I’d rather not have this conversation out here.”

Stagmer just mutely stepped back to let him in, eyes still fixed on Mimung.

Isaac just walked deeper into the building until he reached the forge itself and carefully set down the sword, intensely focusing on not letting the edge touch the table. If it had, Stagmer would likely have needed a new one.

“Basically, I have a [Skill] that lets me create copies of weapons out of ancient Germanic myths, and this sword is Mimung, a weapon created by the legendary Wayland the Blacksmith. He once forged the greatest sword the king had ever seen, then ground it down into powder, fed it to a bunch of geese, then melted the metal out of their droppings and forged it a second time, creating a second, vastly superior blade. But even that wasn’t good enough, so he repeated the process, finally creating one of the finest blades in the world.”

“That’s basically nitration, isn’t it? Using the nitrogen in the birdcrap to strengthen the metal?” Stagmer finally asked and Isaac shrugged.

“If you say so, you’re the expert here. I really don’t know anything about metallurgy or blacksmithing. But I figured between a sword to look at and the myth, you might be able to make something cool.”

“Oh, that I can definitely do.” Stagmer grinned so broadly that it looked like his face might split apart at any second “Getting some geese could be a bit tricky, so I’ll use something chemical for nitration on my first try, but I’ll definitely try to make a copy using the traditional way. How long can you leave that sword here?”

“A few days.” Isaac replied “Having it manifested reduces my mana pool, so I’ll need it while actively fighting, but otherwise, I’ll drop it off here. Does that work for you?”

“Oh, absolutely.” Stagmer’s grin, somehow, got even wider.

Isaac bade him goodbye and left the shop.

***

It ended up taking five long days, but Stagmer still managed to be far faster than the story. Sadly, he was very unhappy with the end result.

Vastly Inferior Copy of the Sword Mimung

A sword our of ancient myth and legend, recreated by the Skill of Isaac Thoma, the Auric Sage and copied by the blacksmith Helmut Stagmer.

It is one of the finest swords created by human hands in the modern age, though it is incomparable to the genuine article.

Isaac frowned.

“What’s your Level?”

“Twenty-one, why?” Stagmer asked. It was an astounding Level for a craftsman to reach given the short amount of time the [System] had been in place, but it still paled in comparison to where fighters like Isaac were at the moment.

“Because it explains the ‘vastly inferior’ descriptor. The power of the sword is dependent in my Level, which is higher. And my sword is the only one of its kind, therefore treated as the ‘original’, so any copies created by someone of a lower Level and with weaker [Skills] can’t match that. But it’s still one of the best weapons created by a living human!”

“And you’re what, Level 60?” Stagmer asked.

“Thereabouts.” Isaac said.

“Yeah, that makes sense. Though I still have high hopes for the sword created using the traditional weapon.” Stagmer added “Ever since I got my hands on that weapon … it’s like I couldn’t stop thinking about the forge, all the cool stuff I could make. Like I … like there’s a million things about blacksmithing out there that I didn’t even know existed, and the only reason even know they’re there is because I caught a glimpse of them in that sword of yours.”

Isaac stroked his chin thoughtfully.

“You must have been massively levelling from all that new stuff, right?” He asked “How close are you to hitting Level 25?”

“I’m at Level 23 now.” Stagmer replied “Why?”

“Because I have an idea. Drop what you’re doing right now for a bit, and try to replicate as many of my projections as you can. Then, I’ll give you a bunch of exotic ores and other materials I gathered from all over the world, please use those for whatever you want, however the fancy strikes you. And when you hit Level 25 and evolve, I think the chances are good that you’ll either get an [Heir-Class] or a great [Class] for being such an outstanding [Blacksmith].”

“Ok, I can’t lie, that sounds like an awesome idea, but why should I take a break on my other projects for that?”

“Because the longer you take, the greater the risk someone else will start to recreate the ancient masterpieces and possibly take your shot at an [Heir-Class], not to mention that gaining much of the XP needed for the final stretch of levelling by recreating old masterpieces will almost certainly boost your chances at getting such a good [Class]. And I even know what you should craft next.”

As Isaac said that, he dismissed Mimung and replaced it with an old fashioned helmet.

Hildegrim

This helm once graced the head of the legendary king, Dietrich von Bern, keeping him safe throughout countless perilous battles.

Forged by the dwarf Alberich, won in combat from the giants Grim and Hilde, its origins are as legendary as the helm itself. It is incredibly durable, functionally indestructible to people on its level, and will also reduce damage to the wearer’s neck and spine that might be caused by taking a blow to the head while also preventing concussions and other forms of traumatic brain injuries from being caused by impacts to the helm.

(this is a summoned piece of armor)

“A king’s helmet?” Stagmer raised an eyebrow “Just who the hell reincarnated into you?”

Isaac shook his head with a soft chuckle “[Heir-Classes] aren’t reincarnations, it’s more like … getting one last massive training session by one of the old masters. In my case, I was taught by Master Hildebrand, the trainer and master at arms to the king in that story.”

“Interesting, Sir Knight.” Stagmer mused, but he was clearly already enraptured by the new piece of gear.

“Anyway, I’m gonna go ahead and bring you those materials now.” Isaac said in that same soft voice one might use to not wake a sleeping person, then withdrew from the shop on tiptoes, only to burst out laughing once he was out of earshot.

Crafters and new ideas/inspirations were like cats and laser pointers. Nothing else existed. He’d come back here later, and it would be glorious, though.